Utah: Polygamist Sect Leaders Are Arrested on Fraud Charges

By The Associated Press

Feb. 23, 2016

Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs’s polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering, one of the biggest blows to the group in years. Prosecutors say the sect, based on the Utah-Arizona border, diverted funds from Utah’s nutrition assistance program for inappropriate use by its leaders. Eleven people were charged, including Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, top-ranking leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and brothers of Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting his 12- and 15-year-old child brides. Arrests were made in Hildale, Utah; Salt Lake City; and Custer County, S.D.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Utah: Polygamist Sect Leaders Are Arrested on Fraud Charges. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Sign up for California Today

The news and stories that matter to Californians (and anyone else interested in the state), delivered weekday mornings.